Opening the gates of Stratholme?

[Soulcatcher 2]

Hello, members of Elysium team, and everyone else! :)

First of all, thanks to the Elysium team for everything you are doing for Classic World of Warcraft.

 

I would like to suggest an idea/question for discussion. It might be not very important for the majority of current players (Nighthaven PvP), but could be somewhat important for "older" players (Darrowshire/Elysium/Anathema servers before their merge into Stratholme server).

The point is that the characters from those servers are currently "trapped" inside the database without any possibility to actually use them. Sure, this is for a reason (as it is not reasonable to keep a separate server for a few dozens of players anyway) - but what about arranging a migration?

According to the current plans (previously announced by Elysium team), Nighthaven PvP server is going to reach the Patch 1.12 in December 2018, and then the migration for the characters from Darrowshire/Elysium/Anathema will be available either to Classic or Burning Crusade version of the server. What about making it happen earlier?

 

Sure, it is totally understandable that the community doesn't want to see any characters who are "ahead" (items-wise, etc) of the current server patch on Nighthaven PvP.

However, not all old servers were at the final Classic patch by the time of their shutdown. I am not sure about the last Elysium and Anathema patches (being a player from Darrowshire myself), but I believe that Anathema was way ahead of the other two servers, Darrowshire hasn't the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj opened and Elysium was the most recent of all three. "Stratholme period" of 2-3 days (when the server was up) shouldn't be taken into the account as there was no real in-game action - raiding or questing, etc.

So, since the Elysium team has performed the migration of characters from all the three servers to Stratholme, it probably shouldn't be very hard to "track" the original servers those characters have came from. The question is, could you please consider speeding-up the opening of migration for the characters from Stratholme to Nighthaven PvP depending on the timeline of their original servers (by the time of their respective shutdowns)?

For example, for Darrowshire characters it would mean being able to transfer to Nighthaven PvP in the middle of July 2018 (right between 1.8 Dragons of Nightmare and 1.9 Gates of Ahn'Qiraj patches) instead of December 2018! This way nobody of the "new" players would be harmed gameplay-wise (as those transferred characters are not getting any unfair advantage), and at the same time the "older" players would have the chance to experience the progressive timeline they were not able to continue on their original servers.

 

Thank you for your attention!

Edited March 22, 2018 by Soulcatcher

[Pepz 0]

TL;DR

The dude played on another realm and wants a head start on the current one.

[Zancon 117]

It's not just a question of gear but of the economy as well, we can't introduce accounts from Stratholme into Nighthaven and not expect disruptions to the economy with the influx of gold and materials from another realm. The goals with Nighthaven were clear when it was created and that was to be as true to original vanilla as we could get while maintaining a quick patch progression. We have done well for the most part with some errors along the way. Overall we are very happy with the way things have turned out, and I don't believe we will ever allow transfers or restores to Nighthaven so that we can protect it.

 

[Soulcatcher 2]

I see... So, if there are no transfers to Nighthaven allowed at any point of time - then what is the earliest estimated date when the characters from Stratholme might be available again, in your opinion? 

And another question - is it technically possible to delete the character completely (just to "let it go", so to say) which is currently in Stratholme database? Currently, if you log in, the system just shows the number of characters you have on the test server - but you can't  actually  have a look at them (or delete them).

[Kalmar 0]

You'll be able to use them once we release our TBC server. There is no eta on when that's going to be, but it certainly won't be before Nighthaven reaches the end of its progression through patches.

[Soulcatcher 2]

Thanks for the clarification!

[Soulcatcher 2]

I really feel like I have to raise this issue one more time:

 

Looking at the current Nighthaven population - it's more or less "balancing on the edge" now (nearly 1500 players). The concern is that after another classic fresh server appears, these numbers might drop to the "point of no return".

So, the suggestion to Elysium administration is to consider opening character transfers from the older servers (Anathema/Darrowshire/Elysium) to Nighthaven server  based on the timeline the particular older server had at the time of its shutting down/merging into Stratholme. So, if the timeline of the older server matches the current Nighthaven timeline at some point (thus not ruining the progression experience for other Nighthaven players) - then an anouncement should probably be made on the webiste main page, and a transfer from the respective older server should officially be opened.

This way it might help to keep the Nighthaven server population on healthy level regardless of upcoming events within classic servers environment.

Sure, Burning Crusade announcement and perspective is a strong argument - but the actual launch might take too long for many technical/fundamental reasons while the server population decreases without the chance of recovery.

The point about Nighthaven server economy is also an important one, but the lack of players would gradually ruin the economy in a far worse way than an "injection" of players with their materials/items from the older servers into it (which should happen in accordance with the Nighthaven server current timeline, as stated above).

 

So, please think about this idea once more! Nighthaven server is currently at Patch 1.7. It seems that the first chance to introduce the older playerbase here is really close (Darrowshire server was at Patch 1.8 by the time of its shutdown, and Elysium server Patch was even "younger"). And finally, it would definitely be a good thing to let the players from "older" realms to experience the classic progression as they were supposed to!

 

Best Regards!

[Shenna 1135]

This is one of the options. Not the Stratholme but at least Elysium PvP which is the same patch to Nighthaven. 
We might have a long way discussion with our community before we make any decision.

[Soulcatcher 2]

Bovine, I don't think I am in position to demand anything from administration - they've provided me and others an opportunity to play, so, they surely can decide on the policy here (including "economically reasonable" approach, can't really blame them since running the server obviously requires a lot of effort and resources).

 

Shenna, sure - it's just an idea to be on the list. Elysium PvP would be the first candidate, naturally (if such scenario is to be implemented at all). I, however, would also advocate allowing Darrowshire later, as well - after Nighthaven itself reaches Patch 1.8, of course (it's sort of personal egoistic interest, as I am a Darrowshire player myself). Anathema went very far in its progression - so, it has probably to wait until Patch 1.11+ on Nighthaven.

Anyway, just hoping for an effective better-off solution for the project to be found. :)